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| Photo by Scott MacNeil, 1975 |
We all have memories of our childhoods. If you are like me, hopefully, the great majority of them will make you smile when you think of them.
Here's one of mine that does exactly that - every time.
Recently, on Facebook, a friend posted an archival photo of a full-sized tractor trailer with the name Yale emblazoned across it gracing the rooftop of a building just off New York's Westside Highway in the vicinity of the Lincoln Tunnel. It was obviously used by that company as some sort of real-life advertising for its shipping services (NOT the University). It was there for many years.
Well, since we used that highway on our very regular trips from our home in Fort Lee, NJ to our grandmother's house on Coney Island in Brooklyn, my family and I must have passed that truck a thousand times on the way there and back. It stood sentinel in every season and in all kinds of weather. You simply couldn't miss it.
My brother, sister, and I were always well aware of it and when we got close to that neighborhood we all rushed to one side of the car, pressing our faces against the window to get a glimpse of it - every time. Upon getting our first view of it, we would always ask our father who was driving: "hey, dad, what's in the truck this time?" And, he never failed to have an answer - the right answer. If it was near Thanksgiving, he would blurt out, "turkeys". If it was Christmas time he would respond, "coal for bad kids like you." In the summer it could be "bathing suits" or simply "sand."
No matter what the season, he always seemed to respond with the perfect answer. And, we always squealed with delightful laughter.
Always.
Well, the Yale truck is long gone (where to, I have no idea) as is my father. However, they are inexorably linked in my heart and soul by the joy and wonder they brought out of just being a kid. People and things don't last forever. But, the love they bring to us never diminishes. May your memories be just as sweet . . .
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